The Medicine-Men of the Apache. (1892 N 09 / 1887-1888 (pages 443-604))Bourke, John Gregory
Religion
The Medicine-Men of the Apache. (1892 N 09 / 1887-1888 (pages 443-604))
Bourke, John Gregory
Apache Indians -- Medicine; Apache Indians -- Religion; Apache Indians -- Rites and ceremonies; Shamans -- New Mexico
The trade carried on by the "buffalo" Indians with the Pueblos was
noticed by Don Juan de Oñate as early as 1599. He describes them as
"dressed in skins, which they also carried into the settled provinces
to sell, and brought back in return cornmeal."[391]
Gregg[392] speaks of the "Comancheros" or Mexicans and Pueblos who
ventured out on the plains to trade with the Comanche, the principal
article of traffic being bread. Whipple[393] refers to this trade as
carried on with all the nomadic tribes of the Llano Estacado, one of
which we know to have been the eastern division of the Apache. The
principal article bartered with the wild tribes was flour, i.e.,
cornmeal.
In another place he tells us of "Pueblo Indians from Santo Domingo,
with flour and bread to barter with the Kái-ò-wàs and Comanches for
buffalo robes and horses."[394] Again, Mexicans were seen with flour,
bread, and tobacco, "bound for Comanche land to trade. We had no
previous idea of the extent of this Indian trade."[395] Only one other
reference to this intertribal commerce will be introduced.
Vetancurt[396] mentions that the Franciscan friars, between 1630 and
1680, had erected a magnificent "temple" to "Our Lady of the Angels of
Porciúncula," and that the walls were so thick that offices were
established in their concavities. On each side of this temple, which
was erected in the pueblo of Pecos (situated at or near the head of
the Pecos River, about 30 miles southeast of Santa Fé, New Mexico, on
the eastern rim of the Llano Estacado), were three towers. At the foot
of the hill was a plain about one league in circumference, to which
the Apache resorted for trade. These were the Apache living on the
plains of Texas. They brought with them buffalo robes, deer skins and
other things to exchange for corn. They came with their dog-trains
loaded, and there were more than five hundred traders arriving each
year.
Observe that here we have the first and only reference to the use of
dog trains by the Apache who in every other case make their women
carry all plunder in baskets on their backs. In this same extract from
Vetancurt there is a valuable remark about Quivira: "Este es el paso
para los reinos de la Quivira."
ANALOGUES OF HODDENTIN.
In the citation from the Spanish poet Villagrá, already given, the
suggestion occurs that some relationship existed between the powder
scattered so freely during the Spanish "carnestolendas" and the
"kunque" thrown by the people of Tusayan upon the Spaniards and their
horses when the Spaniards first entered that country. This analogy is
a very striking one, even though the Spaniards have long since lost
all idea of the meaning of the practice which they still follow. It is
to be noted, however, that one of the occasions when this flour is
most freely used is the Eve of All Saints (Hallowe'en), when the
ghosts or ancestors of the community were to be the recipients of
every attention.[397]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account